Chef Daniel Humm brushes black truffel poached chicken breasts, as cook Lucy Tran, right, assists, before the chicken is plated at the Campton Place Restaurant in the Taj Campton Place Hotel in San Francisco Saturday night, November 19, 2011. Chef Humm, who used to be the executive chef at Campton Place restaurant has prepared the prix fixe meal in celebration of his new cookbook titled after his New York City restaurant, Eleven Madison Park. The cookbook is co-authored with his business partner and Eleven Madison Prak restaurant co-owner, Will Guidara. less

Chef Daniel Humm brushes black truffel poached chicken breasts, as cook Lucy Tran, right, assists, before the chicken is plated at the Campton Place Restaurant in the Taj Campton Place Hotel in San Francisco ... more

Photo: Erin Lubin, Special To The Chronicle

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Sturgeon Sabayon in egg shells was served as an hors d'oeuvre by Chef Daniel Humm during a dining event at the Campton Place restaurant in San Francisco Saturday night, November 19, 2011, celebrating Humm's new cookbook, Eleven Madison Park. The cookbook is named after the New York City restaurant he co-owns with the cookbook's co-author, Will Guidara, less

Sturgeon Sabayon in egg shells was served as an hors d'oeuvre by Chef Daniel Humm during a dining event at the Campton Place restaurant in San Francisco Saturday night, November 19, 2011, celebrating Humm's new ... more

Photo: Erin Lubin, Special To The Chronicle

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Chicken poached with black truffles and autumn vegetables was the fourth course served during a five course meal prepared by Chef Daniel Humm during a dining event at the Campton Place restaurant in San Francisco Saturday night, November 19, 2011, celebrating Humm's new cookbook, Eleven Madison Park. The cookbook is named after the New York City restaurant he co-owns with the cookbook's co-author, Will Guidara. less

Chicken poached with black truffles and autumn vegetables was the fourth course served during a five course meal prepared by Chef Daniel Humm during a dining event at the Campton Place restaurant in San ... more

Photo: Erin Lubin, Special To The Chronicle

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Daniel Humm: Savoring Campton Place reunion

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When Daniel Humm, the four-star chef of New York's Eleven Madison Park, arrived in San Francisco last month, he headed straight for the basement of Campton Place.

It's the "heart of the hotel," the place where most operations take place, and where Humm reunited with many of the people he had worked with as the hotel restaurant chef six years ago.

The director of housekeeping asked him if he had any laundry (he did). The director of engineering pinched his belly and wondered if the tall, ever-slender chef had gained any weight yet (he had).

"It was like the prodigal son had returned," jokes Will Guidara, Humm's 32-year-old business partner, general manager of their Manhattan restaurant and co-author of the duo's new "Eleven Madison Park Cookbook" (Little, Brown and Co., 384 pages, $50).

Indeed, for Humm, the four-day visit was more than a homecoming. As the reception attested, neither San Francisco nor Humm has forgotten the other.

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The 35-year-old Swiss native is one of the nation's brightest culinary stars, but for a few days he enjoyed life as a San Franciscan. This was his most substantial trip back to the Bay Area since leaving, punctuated by a sentimental one-night return to the Union Square kitchen where his star was born.

"The city has been totally transformed as far as restaurants go. The exciting restaurants are on so many different levels: fine dining, technique-driven, more casual, even street food," he said, simultaneously soft-spoken and enthusiastic.

"Now there are young chefs with their own points of view. Before, most had the same point of view," he said, adding, "There is always a story to tell."

Humm's San Francisco story began in 2003, when Campton Place's Paul Zuest discovered the then-unknown chef cooking in Switzerland, high in a remote Alpine town.

Soon thereafter, Humm arrived in the city with two suitcases, a student visa and nary a word of English.

He didn't remain unknown for long. The accolades - both local and national - quickly piled up, culminating in a four-star review from The Chronicle, wherein Michael Bauer anointed Humm "the brightest star to land in Northern California since Thomas Keller opened the French Laundry in Yountville."

Bauer wasn't the only one taking notice. Shortly after the four-star review, New York restaurateur Danny Meyer began courting Humm for his Eleven Madison Park. After no fewer than 12 indecisive visits to New York, Humm took the plunge.

Nowadays Humm speaks English very well, and he and Guidara have transformed Eleven Madison Park into one of the country's top restaurants.

This fall alone, they hit three major career goals: They earned three Michelin stars, they published a stunning 6-pound cookbook and, in a major move, they struck a deal with Meyer to buy Eleven Madison Park. Oh, and Humm welcomed his second child and ran a marathon, too.

Not a bad year.

But for Humm and Guidara, it's never enough. Eleven Madison Park is in a state of constant reinvention, a fact that they made abundantly clear when they completely overhauled it after earning four stars from the New York Times and being named one of the world's top 50 restaurants by San Pellegrino.

"A restaurant is a living, breathing thing. A restaurant should be a great reflection of the people who run it, and as those people change, so should the restaurant," Humm said.

So the next changes at Eleven Madison Park are not an if, but a when.

"We came back from our San Francisco trip and realized that chefs are pushing really hard. It was inspiring. We came back invigorated and said we have to push even harder," Humm said, citing in particular the thoughtfulness of Benu, the execution of Coi and the endless evolution of Quince. All have distinct points of view, he says.

"There should be an element of storytelling in restaurants," Guidara said. "It's not all about the food. It's not all about the service. It's not all about the room or the music. It's the story of how it all was chosen and goes together."

For a night in San Francisco, Guidara got to understand one more aspect of Humm's story. When Humm cooked a special dinner at Campton Place, Guidara worked the dining room.

"I was happy to share that with Will," Humm said. "Before, Campton Place was something we just talked about. That night, we really saw what it was like. It was like going back in time."